Homemade is where my heart is.

Category Archives: sale

Disclaimer: This post is coming from the slightly OCD Renata that once brought you trailer textiles and a camper fridgie. What can I say? I get focused on one thing and beat it to death. I’ll clean the bathrooms some other week; right now my energy is consumed with Camper. It’s not a bad life, really.

First, I got stuck under a grumpy 2-year-old at my computer and needed something to do while I sat there and held him. So I created a camper graphic to put on a new yard sign for our campground. Here it is.

Then today I found these totally awesome mid-century Samsonite suitcases at an antiques/junk store and bought them because I’m traveling by air on a trip next month and clearly I needed these old blue cases to avoid confusing my luggage with everyone else’s on the conveyor belt. The wheels and handle still work perfectly, the lining is intact, the keys were included, and the metal is shiny and perfect. I get the feeling they were mostly stored instead of used. The original “Ladies’ and Men’s Packing Guide” was still tucked into the big one, advising me to “use shoemitts of fabric” to pack my shoes. I swooned, because I’m into that kind of thing, you know? The original Samsonite tag was also still on the big case, never inscribed, but I think I’ll tuck it away with my packing guide for posterity and decided to make my own instead.

I went to print out the card to tuck into my new homemade luggage tag (the fabric is a laminated cotton) but couldn’t find a design that seemed right on the Avery website, although I often find really great printables there. Then it struck me that this was an excellent opportunity to use my own new graphic, so I designed a card with it and stitched it in. I think it looks perfect, and now I’ll have a little piece of my camper with me as comfort when I’m trying not to vomit at 32000 feet. (Campers=good; flying=bad.) Then I decided that my children need t-shirts with the same graphic (don’t they though?) and maybe even me too. So I headed over to Cafe Press, where I discovered that it is cheaper for me to offer my own graphic as an item for sale and subsequently buy it myself than it is for me to just privately design and purchase my own product. Sort of annoying. But why not? Most of my search engine traffic here is from people who google campers, so maybe they need Renata-designed camper merchandise too, right?

So in case you happen to fall into that category here is the link to my brand-new Cafe Press store, where you too can join the vintage-camper-graphic-wearing crowd. Or something. Who knows what’s next? Maybe I can convince Cafe Press to start offering fridgies.

I listed it on craigslist a few days ago, but because I’m, um, emotionally attached to the item it took me a few days to get the courage to own up to it on here. Don’t laugh–the next owner is going to love it too. And of course I’m not getting out of the vintage camper business, I just have my eye on a new one with an extra bed so my son can get booted to his own sleep space and will quit kicking me in the ribs all night. I think an extra two feet or so of camper will serve us well. So hurry up and share the link to mine, so I can sell it and buy the “new” one! Eek!

Ok, this is not normally what I do on this blog, but today something sad happened. My sewing machine died! I bravely took my screw driver and tried to investigate the problem, but (not being a sewing machine repair person) I really can’t tell. It’s an inexpensive machine so it’s likely not worth fixing though I may try. Right now the needle is still sunk into a tote bag I was working on so I’m going to have to figure out how to get that out in any case. In the meantime, I’m going to use this opportunity to sell some stuff I don’t really need and see if I can get money to just buy a better machine.

If you want to buy something just message me. I can ship for the cost of shipping if you’d like or if you’re local we can work something out.

First, I will sell the jewelry I made two weeks ago and just make more for myself. $15.00 for the green pendant necklace and matching earrings, $20.00 for the red and amber set, and I think I’d have to charge $40.00 for the blue because those are really expensive beads (I bought them when we were DINKs, and I think they actually may have been that price for just the beads!).

This is a needle-felted flower. It’s 4.5 inches from leaf tip to leaf tip. I will glue it to a headband or attach a pin clasp at no additional cost, or you can use it for something else as it is. I safety-pinned it to my gray wool coat once and loved it, then forgot all about it. $7.00.

Tote bag. Made from cotton upcycled from a never-used body pillow cover. Velcro closure. 15 inches wide, which is just the right size for carrying a standard-size notebook or a small load of groceries. $7.00.

Baby hat. 7 inches wide, I think it would fit about a 6 month old. (It is too small for Worth, though he has a particularly large head.) It is made from yarn that was gifted to me, but I would guess it to be a wool blend, though it could just be a better-quality acrylic. $5.00.

Last but not least, this is a fall-colors scarf. It’s really pretty and I should go outside and take a better picture of it but I’m too lazy. I paid $25 for the really yummy wool, so I’m asking $40.00 for the scarf. It’s not been blocked yet but I’ll block it if you buy it!